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30 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Define natural resources
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substances and energy sources needed for survival (earths goods)
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Define ecosystem services
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Services arising from normal functioning of natural systems
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examples of ecosystem services
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Air and water purification
Nutrient cycling Climate regulation Pollination Waste recycling |
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2 ways humans impact the environment
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depleting resources
destroying habitat |
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two events that contributed to the increase in human population size observed over the past 10,000 years. understand each.
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Agricultural revolution, Industrial revolution
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define ecological footprint
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- Area of biologically productive land and water needed to produce the resources and dispose/recycle waste for each person
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Define environmental science
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Study of how the natural world works, and how the environment affects humans, and vice versa.
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Define sustainability
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living within our planets means
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Define sustainable development
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Use of resources to satisfy current needs without compromising future availability of resources.
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Define the triple bottom line
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sustainable solutions that meet environmental protection, economic goals, and social equity standards.
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What is meant by a person’s worldview?
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A person’s or group’s belief about meaning, operation and essence of the world.
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What factors influence our worldview and perception of the environment?
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Religious and spiritual beliefs community experiences
Political ideology Economics vested interests |
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Define environmental ethics
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study of good and bad, right and wrong. Moral principles or values help by a person or society
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what are the two schools of ethical thought?
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relativists-ethics vary with social context.
universalists- right and wrong remain the same across cultures and situations; objective and context-independent |
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what are two ways we value things & examples
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Instrumental value: value you something for its practical benefits.
Intrinsic value: value you something for its own sake because it has the right to exist. |
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Three ethical domains of consideration?
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1. Anthropocentrism-only humans have intrinsic value.
2. Biocentrism- Some non-human life has intrinsic value. 3. Ecocentrism- whole ecological systems have value; value placed on maintaining connections. |
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Why have ethical domains of western cultures expanded?
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Rising economic prosperity, Science has demonstrated interconnections among people and other organisms
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Four types of modern economies?
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1.Subsistence economy = peoples’ daily needs met directly from nature or their own production
2. Capitalist market economy = buyers and sellers interact too determine prices and production of goods and services 3. Centrally planned economy = government determines how to allocate resources 4. Mixed economy = governments intervene to some extent |
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Understand four assumptions of Neoclassical/conventional economics and specifically how they lead to environmental degradation and overexploitation of natural resources
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1. Resources are infinite or substitutable.
2. Costs and benefits internal. 3. Long- term effects discounted. 4. Growth is good. |
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Explain steady-state economics & why this model is this good for the environment but bad according to traditional economic thought?
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mirror natural ecological systems-they neither grow nor shrink. As resources became harder to find, economic growth slows and stabilizes. It’s good for the environment because it keeps the environment at a steady state. But it requires a fundamental change in our economics.
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GDP
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Gross domestic product- total monetary value of goods and services that a nation produces.
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What is GPI?
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Genuine progress indicator-differentiates between desirable and undesirable economic activity
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Why are GPI and other alternative measures of economic and national progress viewed as preferred by environmental and ecological economists?
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positive contributions (e.g. volunteer workers) not paid for with money are added to economic activity
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Define environmental public policy
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formal set of general plans and principles created by governments to address problems and guide decision making
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What are the two primary goals of public policy
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1. Advance societal welfare.
2. Promote human welfare and/or protect natural systems |
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5th amendment
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takings clause
- Bans literal taking of private property - Bans regulatory taking – depriving property owner of economic uses of the property |
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14th amendment
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Prohibits denying “equal protection of its laws”
- Constitutional basis for environmental justice |
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Four waves of environmental policy
Goals of each wave |
Wave 1 - motivated by notion in the late 1700s that resources were limitless; goal was to promote the use of natural resources & relieve crowding in cities
Wave 2 - motivated by our awareness that resources are exhaustible (in other words, our encouragement of resource use during wave 1 was not a good idea); goal was to slow resource depletion caused by Westward expansion and protect resources Wave 3 - motivated by bad pollution problems; goal was to clean up the environment (air, water) and promote better human health Wave 4 – motivated again by our awareness that resources, particularly fossil fuels are limited (in the near future) and that our resource use has caused major, global ecosystem problems such as climate change; goal – sustainable development; protect ecosystems while raising standard of living |
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what does the EPA do?
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Conducts and evaluates research, monitors environmental quality, sets and enforces standards for pollution levels, assists states in meeting standards and goals, educates public.
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Understand three types of environmental policy approach; know examples
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1. Tort law- deals with one entity harming another
2. Command-and-control- regulating agency sets rules or limits 3. Market approaches |
